Since I have off every Thursday and Friday until the middle of August, I am using the long weekends to spend time with my family. This past Thursday (and the few before that as well) I drove to my hometown to spend the day with my sister and my niece! Each week we will either go for a walk or run and we laugh and talk about babies and life. It really makes me appreciate having my family relatively close by! This week I walked a bit with my sister and a friend and then ran for 30 minutes with the jogger on the Spring Lake/Belmar NJ boardwalk. The boardwalk is brand new (replaced after Sandy) and so smooth! It was a great run.

I spent the remainder of my weekend at my in-laws’ house with a nasty cold! It hit me out of nowhere and stopped me from exercise for the remainder of the weekend. My 10-week half marathon plan was changed to a 9-week plan :/

I told myself I felt ok enough to make the drive to Atlantic City on Saturday night for my friend Lyndsey’s bachelorette party! I decided to go down for dinner only (was not feeling well enough to party at a club, dammit). We went to Dos Caminos for dinner (at Harrah’s) and I ate so much guac and cheese and had a couple of absolutely amazing margaritas.

Note: I bought this outfit at Forever 21 on Friday. I bought a crop top while pushing a baby in a stroller at Forever 21. Genuinely trying to act 21.

I said goodbye to the girls and met up with my friend Alisha, who happened to be there for the night as well! We gambled a bit (I lost as I usually do) and then we ate more food and passed out while watching “The Other Woman” – I have to finish watching some other time because everything I saw before falling asleep was hilarious. I woke up at 5AM and I was unsurprisingly hungover as shit (12 months of barely drinking will do that). I pumped and drove back to my in-laws. My first night away from Jennie was a success (minus the wretched hangover) but I really missed her! I found myself telling the blackjack dealer about her and basking in the fact that he said I didn’t look old enough to have a baby 🙂 He lied to me to make me feel good and in turn I gave the house all of my money.

I spent the remainder of the day on the couch (and napping). We went out for a bit to the park to fly a kite! It was really windy and much harder than I remembered. I left a bit later and went to my parents’ house for dinner and so I could shower while they watched the baby! I took 2 really long showers this weekend while each set of grandparents were watching Jennie. It is so unlike me (I hate showering) but it was so amazing and appreciated.

Lots of driving this weekend, all worth it!

My home to Point Pleasant to Forked River to AC and back to Forked River to Point Pleasant to home!

I absolutely love spending so much time with my family (mine and Fizz’s)! Another great summer weekend in the books!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend as well! What were your weekend highlights?

I had an awesome weekend in DC with my best friend Ritsa! Unfortunately, I had an awful race. I had a nice pace plan for the Nike Women’s Half Marathon. I had a nice neon outfit planned as well. Instead, my shorts were 3 sizes too small and I ended up feeling worse than I have in a long time during a run. Thankfully, I ran with Danielle and Krissy and we chatted, laughed and enjoyed the crowds (while I did a poor job of hiding my feelings of hate toward the sport).

Official time: 1:58:35 (9:02 avg)

I don’t have much to say about the race so here are some pictures!

WE RUN DC

Best Friends at the start!

Start Line Dance Party

Tunnel Vision

Race Entertainment – Mile 4

Nike Women’s Half – Danielle and Krissy

#runforBoston – Make Every Mile Count

We Run Relentless, We Run Uncensored

We Run United, We Run Bold

My favorite saying

Nike Women’s Half Mile 13

Nike Women’s Half Finish

The Nike Women’s Half Medal, and my new hair bow

Bloody Mary Bar at Mad Hatter in DuPont Circle

Bloody Mary and my best friend Mad Hatter DuPont Circle

Despite my bad attitude and body pains, the race was awesome. The atmosphere and crowds were out of this world (and so was my Bloody Mary after the race)!

HUGE congrats to Hollie for placing 9th out of 15,000+ runners (holy fucking shit) and to Ritsa on her new PR! Thank you Danielle and Krissy for a great run and thanks to Danielle’s husband Andy for cheering!

Another week of relatively good workouts all done with a mostly unstable mind. Sorry for sounding like a complete looney tune last week and all during this week. I was beyond excited for everyone racing yesterday in Eugene, Big Sur and at the Nike Half in DC. There were some epic performances and I am so proud of everyone who raced their hearts out.

When I got to work this morning, I took the plunge and signed up for a marathon. I worked too hard to give up now. My friends showed me that yesterday. I am running the {Inaugural} Liberty Marathon on Saturday May 25. The course starts and ends in Jersey City and runs through Jersey City, Bayonne, Hoboken and Weehawken. It is flat and I have no idea how it is going to go.

Pros: I am only 20 minutes from Jersey City so I can sleep in my bed and my family and friends can come watch and we can go to Zeppelin Hall Biergaten after.

Cons: It is NOT a Boston qualifying course. So…..that’s that.

If you’re in NYC, Jersey City, or Hoboken on Memorial Day weekend and want to come to a great event, please do! I would love the support!

Monday 4/22: OFF

Tuesday 4/23: 3 mi run. Easy pace, lower loop of Central Park.

Wednesday 4/24: 7.25 mi speedwork. The plan was 3 mile tempo, 2x800m, 4x400m. The tempo portion was more like mile repeats because I took a hefty break between miles 2 and 3 to chat with Jess and the Lulu run club!

Even though my splits were varied, it was a great workout and I was happy to check it off the list!

Thursday 4/25: AM: 2.75 mi run, easy effort.

PM: 60 min Refine Method

Friday 4/26: OFF

Saturday 4/27: 60 min spin.Spin instructor audition at NYSC. Great pieces from everyone who auditioned! Best part…. I got the job! As soon as I find out when/where I’m teaching, I expect NJ residents to come to the classes! Seriously.

Sunday 4/28: Mike Women’s Half Marathon. 1 mile warmup, 13.1 race (1:58:34). Race recap to come soon, but in general I felt pretty awful during most of the race but was happy to spend the weekend with Ritsa (she PRd) and run the race with Danielle and Krissy!

Meet Ashley

Welcome to Running Bun! I am Ashley, a working-mom who loves running and training for races, attempting yoga inversions, a strong cocktail, and a good dose of sarcasm. This blog is where I share a lot of random thoughts about the above with some parenting woes mixed in for good measure.